


know what it feels like crossin' the line

by Shespitsfire



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Gen, Gluttony, Healing, Kagura Week 2020, Lust For Life, One Shot Collection, Post-Canon, Pride, Seven Deadly Sins, envy - Freeform, greed - Freeform, sloth - Freeform, wrath - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:28:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27191746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shespitsfire/pseuds/Shespitsfire
Summary: Kagura Week 2020 Prompts1. Gluttony2. Envy3. Lust For Life4. Avarice/Greed5. Pride6. Sloth7. Wrath
Relationships: Kagura/Sesshoumaru (InuYasha)
Comments: 38
Kudos: 40





	1. Gluttony

Kagura propped both feet up on the tree branch with a long sigh. The tasks Naraku gave her were usually either hellishly boring, or else generally fruitless when it came to his ultimate goals. 

This one was the former.

_Watch the Boneeater’s well, Kagura. Don’t attack anyone who goes near it, or anything fun like that. Be a good little spy and report back after three days._

Talk about tedious. She had a pins-and-needles feeling all along her backside from sitting so long. The only interesting thing had happened on the first day: the reincarnated girl, Kagome, had popped out of the well only to spill the entire contents of her rucksack on the ground. She’d collected it all back up with a way too cheerful attitude, and flounced off to the boring village to meet up with her boring companions. 

Kagura didn’t know if Naraku expected something _else_ to follow Kagome out of the creepy hole in the ground, or if he was just punishing her with the most pointless task in the world. But for the past two days, she’d kept watch with a big fat nothing as her result. 

Well, fuck him anyway. Swinging around, she bounced a little on the tree branch before jumping down. 

The heels of her feet felt wobbly as soon as she hit the ground; she muttered a curse, rolling both shoulders back. 

A few feet from where the gaping maw of the well sat, light from the sun hit something. The glare immediately drew her attention–Kagura tilted her head, squinting. 

Whatever it was, the overgrown grasses had pretty much swallowed it. _Should I go to get it?_

_If that stupid hanyou’s around, it might get me in trouble…but what if it’s another jewel shard?_

_Naraku’ll kill me for leaving something important here for just anybody to pick up…_

Well, if she was seen and happened to start a fight, then at least she’d get some action after all this mind-numbing spying. In a flash, Kagura was crouched in the grass, picking up the object that the girl had left behind. 

Once safely back in her tree, she inspected her prize–a plastic container that made noise when she shook it. One of those rations that the hanyou and kitsune always squabbled over. Disappointed, she made to toss it into the forest when a memory stopped her hand. 

It had been a few weeks ago, during one of her little assignments. The same old shit, really–some random demon has a jewel shard, Naraku wants the jewel shard, go get it before the little team of idiotic do-gooders beat him to it. 

She’d gotten there and secured the shard before Inuyasha and his team made their predictable entrance. Kanna had been no fucking help whatsoever by just standing in the damn corner–but the girl, Kagome, had been wearing her rucksack at the time. Kagura had sent a wind gust her way, causing all manner of trinkets to blow out of the pack and hit her comrades.

Inuyasha had screamed something–she remembered because, unlike his usual projections during a fight, it wasn’t Kagome’s name–and nearly gotten his left arm taken off scrambling for a plastic container just like the one that she held in her hands, now. 

_“Noooooo, not the ramen!”_

Humming, she used her nail to tease the plastic away from the top, wrinkling her nose at the look of the dried-up noodles and scallions inside. It didn’t look particularly tasty; perhaps it was a combination of ingredients? Turning it around, she noted the little pictures on the side showing a pair of disembodied hands pouring liquid into the bowl, sitting it in a box, and then pulling steaming noodles from a bowl with chopsticks. 

Water she could find easily, but a magical box was not. Perhaps if she made a fire and got the water hot enough, it would at least make the noodles edible…

Eh, her three days were up anyway. It wasn’t like she’d be lying, if Naraku asked why’d she left and she replied that she’d been on the search for food. If she starved to death, then she wouldn’t exactly be a very useful servant, would she (Kagura ignored the emptiness in her chest, which reminded her that until he desired it then not even death would free her). 

The sky was dark by the time she found a river and got a fire going. Crossing her legs like a child, she cursed and picked at the splinters that rubbing two sticks together had left. It was so much easier to just find forest fruit, or steal rations from the houses in those villages that she and the rest of Naraku’s incarnations may or may not have besieged recently. 

“You better be good, if I’m going to all this trouble,” Kagura muttered petulantly at the container. After a brief dilemma of whether to take the noodles out before using the container to heat river water, she decided to just leave it as it was. 

The first tentative sip became a gulp, then a greedy swallow. 

“That’s not bad at all…” 

She would have to hope that the untrained priestess would bring her backpack to battle more frequently, if these were the kind of treats she kept around. Kagura looked at the half-empty container with a new appreciation. 

“I could eat quite a few of these, if given the chance.”


	2. Envy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Concept: eleonorastay

“What’s got you so mopey?” Leaning her chin on one hand, Kagura rolled her eyes in the grumpy kitsune’s direction. “Normally I wouldn’t care, but you’ve been glaring at me for the past ten minutes, even though I haven’t even done anything.” It was true--now that Naraku was dead, she had no reason to try and cause problems for the kitsune or his little group of friends. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much reason to do  _ anything _ at all. Other than pop up wherever Kohaku or Sesshomaru happened to be, which depressingly often turned out to be the human village. 

From where he sat in a sea of coloring pages, Shippo flinched under her gaze. His eyes flicked this way and that, though his frown remained sour. “I’m not moping!” 

“Are so.” 

“Uh-uh!” His tail bent sharply--a sure sign of a lying little rat. 

Tapping her fan against the palm of her hand, Kagura warned, “Fine, have it your way. But scoff at me one more time and a little tornado might just pass through town, taking you with it.”

Gripping a crayon hard in his paw, Shippo muttered something under his breath. In a flash, Kagura was kneeling beside him, tapping him hard on the head with the fan. 

“ _ What was that?”  _

“Ow! Stop it!” Tiny paws kicked out, knocking her off balance. She couldn’t help but yelp a little as his grip found one ear, yanking with surprising strength and sending a jolt of pain through her skull. “Just because you get away with everything doesn’t mean you can just--”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Shoving him away, she clapped one hand over her smarting ear.  _ I should be glad he didn’t go for the earring… _ “Get away with what?” 

Jumping to his feet, Shippo shoved a ream of paper in her face. “Exhibit A -- last week, you blew over the tent that Miroku spent all day setting up so he could take his kids camping!” 

Kagura raised an eyebrow at the surprisingly intricate illustration of the story. The kitsune had even taken the time to sketch out the patterns on her kimono, as well as the throbbing vein in Miroku’s head. “How was I supposed to--”

Shippo stuffed another drawing into her grip with such vigor that several of the thickest lines smudged. “And the week before that, you drank all the sake that Kaede was saving to toast the harvest! She’d been fermenting it for weeks, and Lord Sesshomaru had to carry you home!” He tapped the paper with an audible  _ twick, twick.  _ “See how grouchy Inuyasha looks?” 

Kagura winced, though more at the memory of how strong the sake had been than out of any real sympathy. Jaken had made more than a few accusations about her behavior on the flight back. “What’s your--”

“And worst of all!” Teeth bared, Shippo flung a third drawing on top of the stack. “You.  _ Stole _ . My. Prank!” 

Kagura looked down at the drawing, then Shippo’s fuming expression, and back at the drawing. “Okay, that one I don’t remember. Wait--” Holding it up closer, she tapped a nail on a dark green shape. “Is that supposed to be Jaken after I kicked that random firebomb at him?” 

“It  _ wasn’t  _ random, it was  _ mine!”  _ Fists settling on his hips, Shippo shouted, “You go around messing everything up, and no one’s allowed to get mad at you because of Lord Sesshomaru!” 

Kagura reared back in surprise. Why would Sesshomaru care if someone snapped at her? He complained about her exploits all the time. Though, now that she thought about it, he  _ did _ seem quite uninterested in addressing how any of the trouble that she seemed to cause affected everyone else outside of himself, directly. Plus it would explain why he always happened to be glowering over her shoulder whenever there was some kind of mishap... 

“So, what? You’re jealous?” 

“ _ Of course!”  _ Shippo gestured dramatically to the top of his head. “I have a permanent bump from all the times I’ve pranked Inuyasha, and now not only do  _ you  _ get away with worse stuff than I’ve ever pulled, you’re making everybody so on edge that  _ I  _ barely get to play tricks at all anymore!” 

Though she hardly considered blowing an already-wobbly tent over to be as bad as ‘gluing a huge boulder to my comrade’s hand so he remained continuously squished’, Kagura supposed that her current status as “former enemy whose death happened to not be as permanent as we thought” gave her less leeway from the get-go. Still, the resolution to this non-problem seemed obvious enough. 

Shaking the pages in her hands, she scoffed, “Well, maybe I should play all the tricks, then.”

Shippo gasped audibly. Had he ever been more offended in his  _ life _ ? 

“Oh, for goodness sake.” Kagura drew a shaky circle around her face with one hand. “I said that “I” should play all the tricks.” 

It was bad enough she had to say it once, but twice? Shippo clapped both hands over his mouth in horror. 

Both arms dropped to her sides. “Idiotic little--you can shapeshift, right?” 

“Huh? Yeah, I-ohhhhhhh!” Shippo’s eyes widened; his tail stretched sharply towards the ceiling. “You mean, you’d let me pretend to be you? Just so I can do a bunch of annoying stuff?” 

“Sure, why not?” Her shrug was an exercise in carelessness. “I’ve never had someone envy me before. Seems kind of sad, but that’s your prerogative.” She held up the drawings with a sharp smile. “So long as I get to keep these, you can knock yourself out with the impressions.” 

In the end, the outcome became new wall art for Sesshomaru’s war room and a month-long ban from visitation at Kaede’s village. Despite the poisonous attitude that both inspired in her paramour, Kagura took it in stride. 


	3. Lust for Life

“Where are we going, Kagura?” 

One hand holding her hair down so that it wouldn’t blow all over, Rin peered up with huge eyes at the mountains stretched before her. Beside her, Kagura laughed, letting the wind rip tendrils of hair from her bun with nary a care. 

“I told you it was a surprise, so stop asking already.” Placing a finger by her lips, she added, “And once you do figure it out, remember your promise.”

Rin nodded, feeling an uncomfortable mixture of excitement and unease settle in her gut. “I won’t tell Lord Sesshomaru...but why don’t you want me to, again?” 

Gripping her arm, Kagura strode forward fearlessly, as though the mountains that loomed above were old friends. “Because it’s a girl’s trip. We’re doing girl things. Which means you can’t tell that stupid frog either.”

“Oh. Okay.”

The coolness of rock against the calluses of her bare feet was startling--always being in the mountain’s shade kept the sun from warming them, the way it did on the riverbank near the village. Rin glanced down and felt the jolt of joy that she always had when she remembered that Kagura preferred bare feet, too. 

Walking up the side of one of the mountains was fun enough; Rin liked tracing the lines where rainwater had worn entire arms of the cliffs away; the red silt against one stretch that was soft enough for her and Kagura to leave colored handprints along the wall; tiny burrows in the rock that only a very small demon could live in. Kagura complained about the stress on her legs loudly. Her voice bounced off the rocks and echoed in Rin’s ears.

“Why don’t we fly, then?” She asked, but Kagura just smirked and said nothing. 

They’d been walking so long that she barely realized it when they arrived at the top. Kagura threw both arms out, as though calling the winds into an embrace, and screamed, “Finally!” 

Rin’s legs shook. The entire sky stretched before her, crowning Kagura’s head in blue and blossoming into pink towards the far-off horizon. Her toes curled against the surface of the rock, sending tiny stones skittering. It was beautiful. It was terrifying. 

Excitement burning in her eyes, Kagura moved closer to the edge. 

“Rin.” A hand beckoned her over. 

Despite her fear ( _what if I cry? What if I fall?_ ) she obeyed. 

Kagura’s nails dug into her arm, just shy of pain. The demon’s voice dropped low, into something that (though Kagura herself would never admit it) sounded gentle. Like the voice Sango used with her twin daughters, when they were crying about having their hair cut. 

“You’ve been through a lot, kid. We all have, but…” she shrugged, as though the horrors of the past were as easily discarded as a kimono in the wrong color. “You and I, we’ve barely been able to do anything for ourselves. To experience things. Not because we’re being dragged along on someone else’s crusade, but because the world is ours and we want a taste of it.” 

The wind witch’s eyes glowed in a sheet of sunlight; the scarlet shade gained a purplish tint that, in Rin’s opinion, was quite pretty. She assumed Lord Sesshomaru thought the same, since he let Kagura stay with him all the time even though Jaken absolutely despised her.

“I haven’t been in this world long, Rin. Not even as long as you.” Her grip slid down, until Rin’s fingers were crushed tight against her palm. “But I want to be in it for a long time, and I want to go fucking wild while I’m here. What about you?” 

The cursing made Rin giggle, and she squeezed the wind witch’s hand back. “I want to have fun, too.”

Kagura’s lip curved. “Remember not to tell, okay? He’ll have my head on a stake.” 

Her feet moved towards the edge. Panic, natural and unbidden, seized like a hand against Rin’s throat. But then Kagura’s fingers pulsed around hers, like a heartbeat. 

Kagura jumped.

Rin knew she didn’t have to follow--she could step back, make her way down the mountain slowly. Be careful. But instead, she jumped too, wanting the joyful laugh that left the wind witch’s lips to be her own. 

They were only in the air for a few minutes before the wind caught them; Rin felt a feather-softness form beneath her knees, cradling her like a mother with a newborn. She barely registered her feet settling back on the ground, or staring up at the peak they’d just leapt from-- _was I really up that high? Am I really okay?_

Kagura’s mass of curls had burst entirely free; she wound them up with both hands, a smile stretched wide across her face. Her eyes flit over Rin’s body. The fact that she was checking her for injuries, that even in her own joy she had made sure to catch Rin and leave her unharmed, felt like watching sunbeams on a river’s surface. 

“How do you feel, Kagura?” Rin couldn’t help but ask, resisting the urge to throw her arms around the witch’s waist like she did to Lord Sesshomaru. She looked so bright, the wind sweeping around her to turn her cheeks red. 

“How do you think?” Kagura laughed. “Alive.” 


	4. Avarice/Greed

“So this is what you do for a living.” 

Hands pressed together fingertip-to-fingertip, Kagura bowed her head slightly with a mock-thoughtful hum. The tree’s leaves above her head moved only slightly in the breeze. When she glanced back up through her bangs to look at the monk’s face, it looked deceptively calm. 

The slight tremor in the hand holding his Shakujo staff, however, gave the game away.

Silently, he settled cross-legged on the ground a few feet from the foot of the tree where she herself reclined. His staff, along with the bag of goods that he’d received from thankful customers, settled easily into his lap. 

“I didn’t expect to see you here, Lady Kagura.” The forced pleasantness in his voice stung her ears. “Usually you are in the village with Rin and Kohaku.”

“I like to travel,” she said, keeping the words close and cutting. “Thought for a moment that I’d been sloppy, after all those human farmers started freaking out about a ‘demonic presence’. But, as it turns out, that’s just a little trick you play. For what?” 

Miroku’s lip quirked. “What do you think? My children need food and clothes. My wife needs to replenish her stores of weaponry. Not to mention armor repairs, medicine, and nice things for our friends.”

 _What boring prizes_. Placing a finger to her chin, Kagura eyed the sack in his lap as though trying to see through it to its contents. “Despite your rather dramatic performance–the scratches on the shrine walls were a nice touch, by the way–don’t you think it’s quite likely you’ll be caught? After all, most demons don’t just disappear when vanquished.” 

“Vengeful spirits do,” he retorted, but the faint few lines forming in his forehead undermined his confidence. “Besides, you don’t seem like the type to judge a man for his exploits, rooted as they are in survival.”

With a snort, she lay back against the tree’s trunk, feeling the rough bark dig in through the many layers of her outfit. “Of course not. I want in.”

Miroku stared at her for a few moments, expression frozen in serenity. “Excuse me?” 

The dark slash of her mouth turned up. “You need a demon to defeat. I’m willing to play the part. So long as we don’t hit the same town twice, we should be able to pull it off easily.” 

Shrewd eyes searched her face for a hint of jest. “I’m afraid any explanation for why you’d want to do so escapes me.” 

“If I help, then you’ll have to split your bounty with me.” Waving a hand at the sack, she added, “Defeating a demon of my caliber, you could inflate the prices handsomely.” 

Miroku released a short, quiet laugh before he could stop himself. Pressing one hand to his mouth in a feigned coughing fit, he sighed, “What an idea…”

“Look.” Kagura pushed herself to her feet. The leaves of the tree shook harder, a few raining down on her shoulders only to be quickly whisked away. “It’s not like I can support myself in any normal way. And it won’t be long before everyone figures out you’re a fake–you don’t exactly have the best reputation to start with.” 

Shuffling about until he matched her standing position, Miroku managed a rueful smile. “I suppose you have a point there. Although I don’t see how choreographing your own defeat would be fulfilling.” 

One shoulder bobbed nonchalantly. “Anything’s fulfilling enough, at the right price.”

“Can’t argue with that, Lady Kagura.” Shouldering the sack, he gave her a deceptively casual nod. “Well, let’s try it and see where it goes…” 

* * *

“Wind witch!” Eyes bugging out from his head, Jaken swept his head in a dramatic line from Kagura’s chin to her toes. “Running around with all that nauseating razzle-dazzle again! I bet you’ve been off looting sad little villages in your spare time. Just like a greedy vulture–” 

“Oi, Sesshomaru, I think your little lackey ate some poisonous berries again.” Cutting her eyes in the kappa’s direction, Kagura snapped, “His tongue’s so swollen that I can barely understand half of what comes out of that nosy little beak.” 

From where he sat on the edge of the hill, watching Rin play with Shippo and Kohaku, Sesshomaru didn’t bother to turn around. Kagura and Jaken stuck their tongues out at each other before Kagura turned away, muttering to herself. 

One fingertip ran repeatedly over the column of bracelets gracing her left wrist, letting them slide into each other with delicate _clinks_. 

“Kagura.” Still facing the opposite direction, Sesshomaru’s voice was as cold and void of urgency as ever. “Your excess in embellishment is distracting.” 

“Huh?” One hand went to shade her eyes, sending the bracelets jangling in the wind. 

Jaken huffed. “He means all the pointless accessories, you stupid witch! All those gaudy little trinkets, as if you have anyone to dress up for!” 

“Why shouldn’t I have nice things if I want them?” Baring her teeth in Jaken’s direction to make him jump, Kagura added, “Besides, I worked hard for these.” 

The magnitude of the kappa’s eye roll could have shifted mountains, but it was true. Just last week, she and Miroku had put together a dramatic death scene that rivaled her actual death scene, just to convince a four-generation family of innkeepers. Her now handsome bracelet collection was the result–the monk always gave her any jewelry he received in payment, since Sango preferred not to wear anything that could accidentally scratch the babies. She’d also scored a pair of earrings, and a Fukurokuju charm that lay cold against her skin on a thinly braided cord beneath her kimonos. 

“It’s noisy.” Sesshomaru stated, shoulders tensing a bit as the wind jostled the silver and jade rings she’d threaded through the holes in her ears. “Take them off.” 

Kagura glared at the back of his head, more than a little tempted to thumb her nose at it. “No. They’re mine, and I’ll wear them if I want to.” 

“Stealing things doesn’t make them yours,” Jaken sniffed, crossing his arms petulantly. Kagura made to grab his staff, so that she could finally put into reality her fantasy of thrashing him about the head with it, but her reflexes were just a touch too slow with the added weight on her arm. 

“If you don’t shut–”

Sesshomaru glanced just over his shoulder. “Does the slayer know her husband has given you such expensive tokens?” 

She nearly fell over and rolled down the hill; from the stretch of Jaken’s wide-open maw, he was even more horrified by her antics than usual. 

“How the fuck did you know that?” 

Gold eyes flicked to each earring, then the subtle line of the necklace cord where it curved behind her neck. “His scent is all over them.” 

“Ew, what the–” It figured, since by the time she met back up with Miroku after her “demise”, he’d be carrying their payment for a while. Still, did Sesshomaru really think her to be so desperate as to accept gifts from a perverted human man? “Obviously it’s not what you think. The whole thing is just business.” 

“ _Busi_ -” Jaken squawked, but this time Kagura was faster. The clunk of his staff as it made contact with his skull was practically melodic; even more so when it was followed by a solid thud, as Jaken fell back into the grass. 

“Seriously.” She met Sesshomaru’s eyes, unconsciously fingering the edge of one earring between her thumb and forefinger. “He didn’t _give_ them to me. It’s more of an…extremely temporary middleman situation. It’s not anything for you to worry about.” 

Turning back around, Sesshomaru muttered something in a low tone that she couldn’t catch. But he didn’t bring up her jewelry again.

Over the next few months, Kagura built up a sizable collection of gaudy little baubles, each of which she made a point to thoroughly wash in the river before wearing. She also ended up with a remarkable amount of darkly-humored inside jokes with Miroku, that served to discomfort pretty much all of their friends whenever they made them in mixed company. 

Jaken still grumbled, calling her greedy and sneaky and all that. But for the price of her new hobby and adornments, Kagura felt confident that she could put up with it. 


	5. Pride

The cup of sake in her hands was warm; Kagura pressed it to her chest for a brief moment before taking a noisy slurp. 

Thudding both heels against the rooftop, she exclaimed, “Shit, that’s good…” 

Kohaku snorted a laugh that made him sound much younger than he was. Pressing his own cup to his lips, he blew over the alcohol’s surface before drinking. Usually when he spent time up here on still nights, he’d be able to hear Kilala’s gentle snoring from the front-porch. But it was the time of year for his sister and her family to travel to Monk Mushin’s temple, leaving their house empty. 

Kagura wiped her mouth on her sleeve and sighed, “Cheers to our fifth year free of that monster.” 

“I can hardly believe it’s been that long.” Crossing both legs under himself, Kohaku set the cup carefully against the ridged tiles along the roof. “I never thought I’d survive to this age, much less be free.”

She hummed in agreement, taking another gulp of sake. She’d tried all manner of alcohol over the past few years, but the kind that Kohaku got on slayer’s trips to the far mountains was easily her favorite for how it burned, in the way that most human-brewed spirits didn’t.

“So much has changed--” Kohaku stopped abruptly as she started cackling. 

“You do this every year.” Kagura leaned back to brace herself on both hands, shaking her head. “We come up on this rooftop, and you start listing every single thing that’s happened since that bastard died, from every baby some random villager’s popped out to each time Rin’s smiled at you for something.” 

“Hey!” Kohaku’s face turned bright pink, which only made her laugh harder. “We’re celebrating, so of course I’m going to talk about the good that’s happened!” 

“Sure, sure.” Draining her sake, Kagura shoved the cup at him in an unspoken request to fill it again. Her bare heels tapped against the roof tiles, this time in a jaunty rhythm. “I guess you do have a lot to be proud of, considering literally no one thought you were going to make it back then.” 

“So you’ve said. _Many_ times.” Kohaku shook his head, handing her back the replenished cup of sake. As she took another healthy sip, he added, “You should be proud too, Kagura.” 

“Me?” She snorted, though the smirk in the corner of her wine-stained mouth gave away her genuine feelings. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Come on,” Kohaku said earnestly. “You’ve traveled so many places since being freed. And your powers have expanded--”

“Moving as the wind has been much easier than trying to keep track of those feathers.” Plucking at her hair absently, she sighed, “Though they did suit me...” 

“And you’ve managed to befriend Lord Sesshomaru, and earn his respect.” 

Kagura rolled her eyes. “Can you be proud of something that causes you so much trouble?”

“You’ve made friends with Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo.” 

“I wouldn’t call them friends--more so, former enemies that I’ve decided to make a truce with.” 

“Fine.” Holding his cup in both hands, he pressed it to his lips to hide a grin. “You tell me what you’re proud of, then.” 

She could have easily rejected the question--made a dismissive or even a sharp comment. But, just like Kohaku’s touchy-feely speeches were tradition, so were the rare moments of honesty that Kagura allowed herself to have with him, on the anniversary of their liberation. Granted, he didn’t usually ask her anything so directly; but she could always blame it on the sake.

“That I can want things.” Seeing his eyebrows furrow, she shrugged. “I always said that freedom was all I ever desired--a life without chains, or a master. But what use is going where I want, or having what I want--eating and dancing and playing tricks, if all that matters is that I can?” She held up the cup, liquid sloshing a bit over the edge. “It’s like this. I could have the cheapest sake in the world, and be content just because I’m alive to drink it. Or I could have this sake, and be fucking delighted, because you had to go fifty miles to get it and you chose to share it with me.”

Kohaku stared at her as he processed that. Then, his gaze firmed; he clinked his cup hard against Kagura’s with a smile. 

“Makes sense to me.” 

“Of course it does.” She threw the glass back and smacked her lips loudly. “I went through hell to get here. Fuck anyone who thinks I should be humble about it.”

“Oh, that reminds me. We still have to do the thing.” Swaying slightly as the sake started to hit, Kohaku held out a hand. Kagura groaned, but did grab his arm for support as they stood up. 

“Inuyasha’s an idiot, but this was actually a good idea.” She turned her head sharply. “Don’t--”

“Don’t tell him you said that, I know.” Kohaku sighed, twisting one way, then the other. “You say that every year.” 

Kagura planted both feet solidly on the roof, clearing her throat. Then, cupping both hands around her mouth, she waited for Kohaku to be ready.” 

“ _Screw you, Naraku!_ ” They screamed in unison, voices slurring just a bit from the sake. 

_“We did it!”_

_“We got away from you!”_

_“Fuck off in hell, you monster!”_

Somewhere in the far off distance, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Kagome’s echoed back to them. “You tell him!” 

The two of them collapsed back onto the rooftop, laughing so hard they couldn’t speak for several minutes. 

“Okay, okay,” Kagura finally managed, hand pressed to her chest. “Now let’s get the annual hug over with, while I’m still tipsy enough to allow it…” 


	6. Sloth

Kagura slunk deeper into the hot spring, turning her sigh into a flurry of bubbles. 

Her outfit lay in a haphazard pile of fabric on a dry rock a few feet away, her fan the only thing that was carefully folded. Strands of hair that had fallen from the waves bundled at the top of her head clung to the sides of her face, but she didn’t bother to brush them away. 

Somewhere out in the forest, she could hear Jaken’s loud complaining about how long she was taking. And it was technically true; her fingertips had turned pruny quite a while ago. 

But she didn’t want to get out. This whole quest was boring. For one thing, Sesshomaru had opted to leave Rin and Kohaku in the village, meaning Kagura had no one to discuss anything of interest with. And secondly–either the daiyokai was making them walk around for the sake of suspense, or he actually had no idea where they were supposed to find this super-special shield or whatever it was (she hadn’t been paying attention during Jaken’s presentation). 

Third and last of all, Kagura just didn’t feel like an adventure right now. She felt like laying against warm rocks and pretending she was a noodle in a bowl of warm broth. 

(A joke which neither Sesshomaru or Jaken had bothered to appreciate.) 

The crunch of leaves nearby made her crack one scarlet eye open; she knew, of course, exactly who it was, since Jaken had expressed on multiple occasions that he would rather jump into a fiery pit of hell than see her fully nude. 

Sesshomaru’s frown seemed to echo the general disinterest that Kagura felt inside. “Get your clothes. We’re leaving.” 

“Go ahead.” She slunk even further, letting the tip of her nose graze the water’s surface. “I’ll catch up.”

He sighed, a loud and petulant thing that made her feel oddly jealous–if only she could inspire such unease in people with her own displays of annoyance. “You should be aware by now that neither Jaken nor I have qualms about leaving you behind.” 

Beneath the bubbles, she smirked for a split second. Since Naraku’s demise, and her full-time procurement of a healthy heart, Kagura was no longer the type to chase after a man playing hard to get. “I am. Bye, then.” 

Sesshomaru glanced towards the thicket of wood, where he might have left Jaken in a whimpering pulp, then back to her. If he’d been many thousands of years younger, and in possession of a temperament more akin to his half-sibling, she might have expected him to stamp his foot. “It is a wonder that sitting so long in the heat has not boiled your skin free from the bones.” 

“A wonder, indeed.” Leaning her head back, she swallowed–knowing his eyes would lock on the movement in her throat. “No need to make conversation, if you’re in a hurry.” 

She lived for the glow of annoyance in his eyes. It was delicious, to make a man who made a hobby of walking away from her stand there and try to maintain composure instead of just snapping at her to stop being lazy like a normal person. 

“Fine,” he managed to say with only the slightest gritting of his teeth (have you been practicing? she wanted to ask, or has Rin just pouted her bottom lip at you one time too many and you’re worried about being a cruel father?) He turned and stalked into the brush, leaving Kagura chuckling. 

She stayed in the spring for another half hour before finally sliding out. The ritual of wrapping each layer over her body before tying the obi closed was calming, methodic. Then Kagura flew up into the sky, ready to hunt down her traveling companions. They had put in quite a bit of distance, spurred on by their frustration.

It’d be some time before she can track them down, but Kagura didn’t mind. After all, a girl had to make her own fun now and then.


	7. Wrath

The castle looks the same, even a year after Naraku’s death. 

Not that it means much; Kagura’s master wasn’t exactly one for lively decoration, and as she pads along the empty stone halls, there is little else but shadows and rotting wood to catch her interest. 

Kagura hisses as a thick sheet of spiderweb catches the edge of her kimono, clinging greedily to her skin the way his scent used to. The gaping loneliness of the fortress should leave her feeling calm. After all, there shouldn’t be a trace left of him here. Not even in the basement, where his hideous form used to pulse and expand with thousands of demonic spirits, all trapped within the bonds of a single creature’s flesh. 

But Kagura can’t relax. The stale air whispering through the window, the creaking of the floors far above her--it’s like a ghostly hand, dragging her back into the past. She knows without a doubt if she were to crack open the door of a certain room, she’d find those chains that he’d used on her. Somewhere, there’s a wooden door with the dents from when she’d spent all night slamming her fists against it, after yet another threat against her heart. 

Down in the depths of the basement, streaks of her blood will still stain the floor.

A piece of him is still here. Because Kagura, herself, is here. 

The rage of the past catches, like a lick of flame on dry paper. It fills her whole body with heat, until she feels like exploding. So, with a scream, she does. 

Kagura’s first gale of wind knocks a few bricks loose from the wall. The next blows a door clean off its hinges. The burn of satisfaction spurs her on--more, faster. Time fades away quickly, lost in the ear-splitting din as she destroys everything in her wake--roughly carved window-sills, tattered tapestries, stained mirrors and creaking staircases and forgotten chambers. Dust coats her body like another layer of clothing, stinging her eyes for just a moment before her winds whisk it away. Her constant, wordless screams are thick enough to choke on. 

Hours later, the entire castle lies in a huge pile of rubble. Kagura collapses on what used to be a store-room’s foundation. Breathing heavily, she glances down to see that the skirt of her kimono is torn (probably from when she jumped out of the way as the ceiling fell in). Shards of something dig into the brown skin of both legs; she picks at the wounds absently, adding smears of rust-colored blood into the gray dust under her nails. Physical pain is untraceable, beneath the burning of her wrath. 

The basement, an evil yawning maw, is buried beneath the castle ruins. She squeezes her eyes closed, hating the thickness in her throat whenever she thinks of that place. How she can’t rip the memories apart, as easily as she’s destroyed her former master’s hideaway. 

But at least she knows the anger is her own. Naraku always directed his rage at others--those he felt had rejected him, who had been given that which he felt was rightfully his, those he looked down upon. And in the end, his sins always resulted in nothing but suffering, for himself the most. 

But Kagura’s rage is different. It's the knowledge that she deserved better than to be dragged around after a madman, seeking the power he didn’t deserve, nor truly knew what to do with; the pain of having no one to rely on but herself, of desperately wanting freedom but knowing she’d only have it at the price of her own life. 

And in the end, Naraku perished while Kagura survives, somehow. But that doesn’t mean her fury disappeared. If anything, it's more potent, knowing her life could have always been like this--flying free, controlled by nothing and no one. 

Naraku’s anger was a reflection of his weakness. 

Kagura’s could level fortresses. 

As she falls on her back to stare up at the night sky, the burn settles deep in her stomach, more than ready to keep her warm. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Sinning With You by Sam Hunt.


End file.
